Marine blew up tenement in Dundee after internet bomb lessons

The scene of the explosion at the tenement block. Picture: Bob Douglas

WILMA RILEY

00:00Saturday 10 November 2012

A FORMER Royal Marine who caused an explosion in a block of flats using a tub from hair gel stuffed with explosives has been jailed for three years.

Allan Peach detonated a home-made bomb on 7 June at a tenement in Dundee, blowing a number of doors off their hinges.

He also set off another device earlier that evening, but no-one was hurt during either incident.

Yesterday, at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lady Stacey told him: “What you did was ­culpable and reckless.

“It could have caused a great deal more damage than it actually did.

“I have to take a serious view of this. However, you are ­previously of good character and it is a great pity to see you in this situation because of drugs which you misused.”

The court heard that Peach was suffering from depression and had been consuming a legal high – encat – which had ­resulted in him suffering a change of personality.

The 24-year-old admitted to ­culpably and recklessly causing explosions that were to the risk of others.

Peach, a first offender, is ­believed latterly to have worked as an electrical contractor at RAF Leuchars.

Police described his actions as “horrendous”.

Prosecutor Paul Kearney said Peach had bought several 1kg bags of explosive substances online. These were potassium nitrate as well as aluminium and sulphur powders.

Mr Kearney added: “It had been established that he was ­actively seeking information on how to manufacture explosive devices.”

Around 9pm on the evening of 7 June, Peach randomly threw the first of his home-made bombs into the garden area of a block of flats in Cullen Place, Dundee. Witnesses described hearing “a loud bang”, but no-one in the vicinity was hurt.

Mr Kearney said Peach then constructed another improvised device using a tub of hair gel, which he cleaned out and filled with powder.

He drilled a hole into the lid and placed a fuse wire through it and into the contents.

The court heard Peach, who was wearing a green boiler suit, then went to another tenement in Cullen Place and was allowed entry by a resident.

One witness was heading home when he heard an ­explosion followed by the sound of smashing glass.

Mr Kearney said: “The force blew open the front doors of the properties on the ground and upper floor of the block.

“As a result, all the residents left their homes.”

A number of people dialled 999 and fire crews later ­discovered a plastic container wrapped in brown tape within the scorch-marked building.

A police investigation into the blasts led detectives to Peach, after being told he had ­knowledge of the incidents.

His van was searched and a hard drive and mobile phone were seized.

The court heard these ­revealed “evidence of bombmaking activities” and “tutorials” in how to construct devices.

Peach’s defence advocate ­Lortraine Glancy said: “He began to use a legal high encat after the break-up of his parents which he took very badly indeed.

“He now has an insight into the potentially dangerous ­consequences of his behaviour. His family remain deeply ­committed to helping him.”

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Editors' Code of Practice.
If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the
Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the IPSO by
clicking here.

The Scotsman provides news, events and sport features from the Edinburgh area. For the best up to date information relating to Edinburgh and the surrounding areas visit us at The Scotsman regularly or bookmark this page.

For you to enjoy all the features of this website The Scotsman requires permission to use cookies.

Find Out More ▼

What is a Cookie?

What is a Flash Cookie?

Can I opt out of receiving Cookies?

About our Cookies

Cookies are small data files which are sent to your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome etc) from a website you visit. They are stored on your electronic device.

This is a type of cookie which is collected by Adobe Flash media player (it is also called a Local Shared Object) - a piece of software you may already have on your electronic device to help you watch online videos and listen to podcasts.

Yes there are a number of options available, you can set your browser either to reject all cookies, to allow only "trusted" sites to set them, or to only accept them from the site you are currently on.

However, please note - if you block/delete all cookies, some features of our websites, such as remembering your login details, or the site branding for your local newspaper may not function as a result.

The types of cookies we, our ad network and technology partners use are listed below:

Revenue Science ►

A tool used by some of our advertisers to target adverts to you based on pages you have visited in the past. To opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Google Ads ►

Our sites contain advertising from Google; these use cookies to ensure you get adverts relevant to you. You can tailor the type of ads you receive by visiting here or to opt out of this type of targeting you can visit the 'Your Online Choices' website by clicking here.

Digital Analytics ►

This is used to help us identify unique visitors to our websites. This data is anonymous and we cannot use this to uniquely identify individuals and their usage of the sites.

Dart for Publishers ►

This comes from our ad serving technology and is used to track how many times you have seen a particular ad on our sites, so that you don't just see one advert but an even spread. This information is not used by us for any other type of audience recording or monitoring.

ComScore ►

ComScore monitor and externally verify our site traffic data for use within the advertising industry. Any data collected is anonymous statistical data and cannot be traced back to an individual.

Local Targeting ►

Our Classified websites (Photos, Motors, Jobs and Property Today) use cookies to ensure you get the correct local newspaper branding and content when you visit them. These cookies store no personally identifiable information.

Grapeshot ►

We use Grapeshot as a contextual targeting technology, allowing us to create custom groups of stories outside out of our usual site navigation. Grapeshot stores the categories of story you have been exposed to. Their privacy policy and opt out option can be accessed here.

Subscriptions Online ►

Our partner for Newspaper subscriptions online stores data from the forms you complete in these to increase the usability of the site and enhance user experience.

Add This ►

Add This provides the social networking widget found in many of our pages. This widget gives you the tools to bookmark our websites, blog, share, tweet and email our content to a friend.